Strayed Soulmates
by LovingIsLiving111
Summary: This will take place at the beginning of the anime and use some parts of the manga. This is about how Sven's partner's daughter became apart of the group and her adventures with Train throughout the series. Please review.
1. Strayed Soulmates: Prologue

**Strayed Soulmates**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Black Cat.**

 **So this is my first fanfic in about 7 years. I'm trying to get back into the game so please review. I was watching Black Cat and for whatever reason, this idea just popped into my head and I could not get it out. So what better way than to write it.**

 **This will follow mainly the anime but it will have some of the manga elements as I felt the manga also had some very good moments. Also, I know in the actual series, Sven's partner dies on his daughter's fourth birthday but for the purposes of this story, he dies on her 12th birthday. I hope everyone enjoys it.**

 **Chapter 1: The Beginning**

Soul mates...such a strange term. Romantics always talk about when they marry, it'll be because they've found their soul mate. It sounds kind of absurd to me. That there is only one person in the entire universe that has the capability to know and understand you.

It's rather far-fetched to me. Don't get me wrong, I do believe in love. I know my parents were in love. They had to be since my father died and my mother passed away from the grief. Something like that doesn't happen unless you truly love that person.

My father was a great man. He was an IBI agent who worked relentlessly to put horrible criminals behind bars along with his partner, Sven Vollfied. That is, until one day one of those horrible criminals decided they weren't going to take it lying down. Revenge really is meaningless and stupid. Only the truly selfish chase after revenge. But what can you do...there is no cure for foolish stupidity.

I was 12-years-old when this revenge took place. It happened on my birthday, too. How depressing is that?! My birthday, a time normally full of joy and celebration, is associated with both my parents' deaths. I don't really need to get into the gory details. Sven, my father's partner, was kidnapped by criminals to draw my father out. My noble father went to save Sven on my birthday and sacrificed himself as noble men do. My mother tried to bear his death and she did hang on for a full year before the grief took her and she perished from an illness. I guess that's what happens when you have a soul mate.

After my mother passed, Sven Vollfied rolled back into town. I had no idea how he knew about my mother's death and it took a lot of persuasion to get him to spill the beans. Apparently, my father had a secret. He was a psychic...he could see into the future. I guess my father knew he was going to die and signed himself up as on organ donor shortly before the incident. Probably another attempt at watching out for his partner. He was like that. Always worried about Sven. He'd invite Sven over for meals countless times because he was so worried he wouldn't eat right if he was left alone. By the time of the revenge incident I was very familiar with Sven. He was like that eccentric uncle no one wants to admit they have in their family but are still happy enough to invite him to all the family reunions. Sven's right eye had been destroyed during the incident so the doctor's gave him my father's right eye. Sven, apparently, foresaw my mother's passing and came rushing back to town.

I guess he was feeling guilty. I didn't understand why he should. It's not like he told those horrible people to kidnap him... but to each his own, I guess.

Sven accepted guardianship of me and enrolled me in a boarding school. He became a sweeper to help pay for the tuition. I guess the IBI doesn't doesn't really like to reimburse the families of agents whose lives were taken on the field.

I went to the boarding school and resumed a normal life for about a month. That was when my secret kicked in. It turns out psychicness is hereditary. Who knew, right? The problem was my psychic gene didn't manifest the same way my father's did. My father could see the future, I am...I guess the right word would be empathic, though, at times, it can be much, much more than that.

At the tender age of thirteen, I found that if my skin made contact with another human's skin, I could feel all the emotions they'd ever felt and if the emotions were strong enough, I could see the memories associated with those emotions. But wait, there's more. I soon learned that after the first touch, the in-flow of emotions didn't stop. The initial touch is when the psychic bond is created. After that touch, I am wide open for that human's emotions all the time, as long as they're near me.

Sounds pretty cool, I know, but not ideal when you're a thirteen-year-old poor orphaned girl going through puberty trying to make friends at a new school with a bunch of other thirteen-year-old girls who are also going through puberty. I was trying to figure out my own emotions while being slammed with everyone else's. Some people could just tell I was different. I don't know how they knew. Maybe, the same way a herbivore knows a carnivore is lurking around a corner. They don't have any reason to suspect, they just know. The people who did be-friend were great up until I shared my secret. When you're a poor thirteen-year-old orphaned girl, you're incredibly naïve. Before I knew it, I went from being the thirteen-year-old poor orphaned girl to being the thirtten-year-old orphaned freak.

I guess humans aren't too comfortable with someone who can see into their heart. To put it mildly, I became a social outcast at thirteen-years-old. Definitely not cool. Take it from me, being a psychic sucks.

But I'm adaptable. I put up with it for three years. I dropped out of that school when I was sixteen and tracked down my guardian/eccentric uncle, Sven Vollfied. Since I had no one else to talk to about it, I took the chance and told Sven my secret. He was surprisingly okay with it. I guess having your dead best friend's future seeing eye makes you much more tolerant of psychic abilities. I still remember the conversation like it was yesterday. I had touched Sven's arms to prove my psychic abilities.

 _"So, empathic, huh?" he asked. I nodded. "I really should've known that something like that might pop up. You are his daughter."_

 _"Yeah, trust me. This gene I inherited from him is nothing but a huge pain in the ass."_

 _Sven chuckled. "If only your father could hear you now. He'd be telling you to wash your mouth out with sop for using such rude language."_

 _"Yeah, well, he's not," I replied. "He died quite nobly four years ago. Unfortunately, he failed to leave behind an instruction manual detailing how to live your with psychic abilities."_

 _Sven laughed again. Apparently, he found my hardships quite amusing. "I'm happy to see you've inherited your father's sense of humor."_

 _"Sven, I don't want to go back to that school. No matter how hard I try to hide it, everyone can tell I 'm different. They're afraid of me and they keep calling me a freak. None of them want to be anywhere near me. I've been alone for four years. I'm sick of being alone. Can I please stay with you? You're all I have now."_

 _"I don't know if that's a good idea. I'm constantly moving around and my work is dangerous-"_

 _"I don't care about any of that. I'm not afraid. Trust me, if you experienced the things I've felt and seen you wouldn't be either. I can learn to be a sweeper. I know I can. And I can be useful. I've been taking martial arts classes. My teacher says I'm very quick on my feet...like a cat. Not to mention, I can help with your cases. You have a hard time determining whether the information you get from shady criminal-esque individuals is reliable. You're constantly worried the information they give you will lead you into a trap. Don't try to tell me you aren't. I felt it when I touched you and I saw the times when you were betrayed. I can help with that. If I create a psychic bond with those people, I'll be able to tell if they're lying or have ulterior motives. I'm basically a human lie detector for anyone who has a psychic bond with me."_

 _Sven looked at me, clearly weight the pros and the cons to having me around. "Forget it. As a gentleman, I can't let my best friend's daughter get mixed up in this kind of life. It's far too dangerous and your father would want you to have more than this sort of life."_

 _"Sven, please stop treating me like a child. I'm not that little girl you used to push on the swings anymore. I'm sixteen-years-old. Old enough to get a sweeper's license and certainly old enough to make my own decisions. I want to do this." Sven just kept on giving me that hesitating stare. I decided I was going to have to play dirty. "Sven, if you don't say yes, I'm just going to keep following you. You're not that difficult to track and with a psychic bond, you'll be even easier now. I'll follow you on every one of your sweeper jobs. Who knows what could happen to me if you're not by my side protecting me? Some horrible criminal might grab me and who knows what will become of this poor fragile sixteen-year-old girl then? Is that the sort of life my father wanted me to have? Can your gentleman code survive something like that?"_

 _At first, I thought I'd gone too far. Sven looked like he was really irritated until he sighed. "You are your father's daughter. You drive a hard bargain and hopefully that tenacity of yours will remain intact because I can promise this isn't going to be easy for you. Being empathic is not a good personality trait for a sweeper to have. You're going to have to work hard if you want to be a part of this life. We'll start your training tomorrow first thing in the morning. I don't know what kind of self-defense classes you've been taking, but I guarantee it's not going to be enough to survive being a sweeper."_

I guess it's because of my psychic abilities that I find the concept of soul mates so strange. Supposedly, your soul mate is supposed to be the one person who understands you completely. Because of my abilities, I understand a great many people but yet these very same people find my ability to understand them repulsive. So how can humans even contemplate the idea of soul mates when their hearts feel threatened by the existence of one empathic teenage girl?

Don't misunderstand me. This isn't going to be one big, huge lecture on how soul mates don't exist. Far from it. This is a story about family, friendship, love...and soul mates. This is a story about how I, Adrienne, the empathic skeptic found my soul mate, Train Heartnett.; AKA: Black Cat.

 **So please let me know what you think.**


	2. The Solitary Cat

**I am soooo sorry about this super late update. My computer crashed and I lost everything. Here you go and I hope you enjoy!**

 **The Solitary Cat**

 _Metal clanging on metal. Gunshots firing. Bang, bang, bang. There were 2 shapes moving. They were surrounded by blood. The shapes were moving so fast, they were like lightning. Murder and the promise of death were written in both sets of eyes. All this surrounded by flowers exploding in the background. No, they weren't flowers. There was far too much noise in the background for it to be just flowers. No, they were fireworks. These two men were fighting in the midst of fireworks._

 _"Your eyes! That woman! She's got you! You're under that witch's spell! AHH!" one of the men bellowed._

 _All the other man could do was scream as he fell. He just kept falling and falling and falling until…_

"Adrienne! Wake up! We're almost there," a man's voice called out to his travelling companion. Adrienne flew up in the passenger seat with a jerk, breathing heavily and scattering all the various maps and bounty wanted lists that had recently made its home on her chest.

Adrienne was considered classically pretty or at least that's what her bandmates, Kyle and Miranda, said. She was relatively skinny (but not too skinny, she prefers to think of herself as slender) with pale skin, blue-green eyes, and blonde hair that reaches to her mid back. Her hair is layered and the bottom layer has streaks of blue and pink. Obviously not natural but it's her hair so she can do whatever she wants with it.

Adrienne prefers to think of herself as a rebel aspiring to reach the perfect freedom so she adapted the punk look. Normally sporting the green and black camouflage pants, black shoes, and a black form fitting shirt that reaches her waist. If it was cold she added a jean jacket. Finishing off the look was her elbow length black gloves. The most important part of her wardrobe as they enabled her hands to touch people without having to feel and potentially see their entire life story. She wished it didn't have to be this way but you can't pick who your parents are.

Her partner, Sven, was not quite as classically pretty but he played it off by consistently wearing a suit.

"Whoa, you okay kid?" Sven remarked on how freaked out Adrienne appeared. "That must've been some dream. You've been thrashing about for the past hour. I'm guessing you weren't dreaming about boys like ordinary girls your age are supposed to."

"Just keep driving, Sven. You're supposed to be paying attention to the road, not me. If you keep on hitting these pot holes, we're going to have to spend our current bounty on getting this car fixed…again."

"Hey," Sven retorted, "I don't hit all the potholes."

"No, just the ones that inflict the maximum amount of damage on the car."

"Haven't we already talked about this passenger side driving nonsense. If you're not driving, you don't get to complain."

Adrienne glared at her partner. "I totally can if your driving is hazardous to my health."

Sven gave her a questioning glare. "Pray tell, how is hitting potholes hazardous to your health?"

"It's simple really. You hit the potholes, it causes damage to the car. Since the car is damaged, we now have to pay to get it fixed. In order to pay to get it fixed, we have to take money out of our food budget. When we take money out of our food budget, we're only eating ramen noodles. I'm a pop star, Sven. I have an image to uphold and I can't very well uphold it if I start to get flabby because ramen noodles is the only food going into my body. See, simple math. And it's actually a 2 for 1 because it's hazardous to my image and to my health. Not to mention, we're at a point right now where we can't even afford ramen."

"Don't worry. I promise this job is going to pay." Sven looked at the road and then back to Adrienne. "Seriously, are you okay? That dream didn't look fun."

Adrienne rested her head on the corner of the car. "I'm fine. And oddly enough, the dream was about boys. And please, whatever you do, do not try to give me 'the talk' again. It was traumatizing enough the first time."

"It wasn't that bad."

"Going back to that school would've been a kindness opposed to having that talk. You have no idea how badly I wished I was deaf. The dream wasn't like that anyway. These two guys were fighting. It was hard to make out but what I felt was so much worse than what I saw. I have never felt so much hate before in my life. And that's saying something considering I'm forced to feel the anger and hate of everyone who accidentally makes contact with my skin. Let's hurry up and get to town. This is depressing and I don't want to talk about it anymore."

Sven decided to give Adrienne some alone time. This was the kind of thing he couldn't really help with. Whenever she had these dreams, pushing them to the back of her mind and ignoring them was how she dealt with them. Sven didn't think it was very healthy but he also knows that there's nothing he can say that will help with the things she's forced to feel and see.

Adrienne found herself contemplating the dream. _What was that? I've never had an empathic dream with people I don't have the Bond with before. Maybe it really is just a dream. If it really was just a dream, why do I feel like something terrible is about to happen?_

Adrienne was looking out at the parade from a back alley. It really was a pretty awesome parade even if the new governor, their bounty, was a total scum bag. A part of her wished she could take part in a parade like this, but as a general rule, large crowds was not something she could handle. She was far more likely to accidentally bump into someone in a large crowd. _Unless, of course, if I'm the one performing. I make exceptions for that._ _I could handle large crowds all day if I was on the stage._ Adrienne looked at her partner standing next to her and rolled her eyes. She then proceeded to stomp on his foot.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"Quit monologuing in your head. You are far too old for that nonsense."

A dejected look came across Sven's face. "You really know where to hit a man where it hurts, don't you?"

"What can I say, I learned from the best." Adrienne winked at him. "Let's see if there's any food in this town we can afford."

After a couple hours of searching, the duo eventually found themselves in a quaint little restaurant. The two flipped through their menus still hopeful to find something they can afford.

"Spaghetti plate…club sandwich…pancakes…why is all this food so expensive?" Sven muttered to himself.

Adrienne looked up from her menu. "I got one word for you, Sven. Potholes."

"Yeah, yeah, cheeky brat."

Sven continued to flip through the menu still hopeful to find something they could afford. Adrienne closed her menu, accepting she probably wasn't going to eat until they collected on Lib Tyrant's bounty.

"Welcome to Stan's. What are you having?" A bored voice called out to them.

Sven and Adrienne looked up to see their waitress. Much to Adrienne's chagrin, Sven perked up. Adrienne rolled her eyes. She hated when Sven adopted this happy-go-lucky personality to garner sympathy. It was so pathetic. As Sven started to light his cigarette, Adrienne heard the best comment ever. "There's no smoking in this section."

Adrienne hated Sven's smoking habit. It was where half their bounty money went. If he didn't smoke, they might actually be able to afford this meal. "Well, Sven, it looks like your cigarette is going to have to sit this one out."

A few minutes later, Adrienne found the two of them sitting in a different booth in the back of the restaurant, the booth reaking of smoke. "I seriously cannot believe you made us move tables, Sven. Why don't you just quit? It's a filthy habit anyway."

Sven just ignored her. He wasn't about to have this conversation with her again. "Here's your black coffee," the waitress handed a mug to Sven, "and your ice water," she passed a glass to Adrienne.

"Hang on," Sven handed the waitress money for their order. "It's all yours."

"We usually don't get tippers in here." The waitress smiled gleefully.

"That's exact change," Sven corrected her.

Adrienne rolled her eyes and whispered to Sven, "You know, if you quit smoking, we might actually afford to tip the waitress." Suddenly, both Sven and Adrienne's stomachs growled.

"Sounds to me like the two of you are a bit hungry," the waitress remarked.

"Not at all," Sven smiled.

"Trust me, we eat plenty of potholes," Adrienne grumbled, earning her a dejected glare from Sven.

"We're just on a crash diet." Sven continued.

"Oh, sure. Now you take an interest in my body's image." Adrienne quipped out.

"Where are you guys from anyway?" the waitress inquired.

"Go ahead and take a guess," Sven dared.

"Well, you two certainly don't look like tourists. Not with that suit and her with the camouflage pants and elbow high gloves. What is up with those gloves by the way? You must be burning up with those on." Adrienne just ignored her. "Anyway, I'm guessing you're here to milk a few bucks out of the new governor like all those fools over there."

"Fools, huh," Adrienne quipped.

"Since the election, this town's been overrun with thugs looking for quick cash," the waitress continued.

Sven looked at the group. "They don't really look like a very chivalrous bunch."

"What do you mean, chivalrous?"

"Here we go again," Adrienne muttered to herself.

"I mean polite, respectful and considerate," Sven continued, "Just a nice guy."

The waitress stared at him as if he were joking. "Yeah, you try being a nice guy in this town, you'll be a dead guy before you know it. Take my word, just duck and cover. I mean, we're living in a world where people elect a gangster as their governor."

A scream was suddenly heard from the other side of the restaurant. "Hey!" the waitress threw her tray at the offending thug.

Sven and Adrienne just watched as the scene unfolded before them. Screams and dishes clanging consumed the restaurant until Sven got up and threw small circular candy like objects into the offending thugs' mouths.

"Suck on that candy and calm down, boys. Now, step away from the ladies." The two walked towards Sven. "That's more like it. As a reward, I got a couple of extra pieces of candy for you two." Sven threw a couple more into their mouths. The thugs began to sweat profusely. "They're nanomachines. Now they're inside your body, their first job is to burn your insides to 1000 degree Fahrenheit."

Adrienne appeared in front of them and threw her ice water in their faces. Sven continued, "Just kidding. They're actually jalapeno candy made especially for me. Extra, extra hot."

"Now, listen to me boys." Adrienne walked up to the considerably less threatening thugs. "Would you treat your own mothers the way you treated these women?" When they looked down at their feet, she continued. "I suggest you run along to your mother's homes and clean the entire property as an apology to women everywhere. And when I say suggest, I'm really commanding you. You could choose not to, but I don't think you're going to like what will happen to you." Adrienne smiled to herself as the thugs quickly left.

When she returned back to the table, food had just appeared. "Whoa, Sven, take a look at this spread. Where did it all come from? It looks amazing."

"Don't get too excited. Our grateful waitress opened a line of credit for us as a thank you," Sven remarked.

"So we still have to pay? Man, that totally sucks," Adrienne groaned. "Why do we have to be broke all the time?"

 _You_ don't have to be broke all the time." Sven started a speech he'd given several times over. "You are a pop star, as you reminded me earlier with your hazardous health comment. You would have plenty of money if you would just sign with one of those talent agencies."

Adrienne glared at Sven. She hated having this conversation with him. He was forever trying to find ways to get her to quit being a sweeper. "And leave you behind, Sven? You wouldn't survive one day without me watching your back. Besides, if I signed with one of those agencies, I would forever have people telling me what to do, where to go, who to be. No, thank you. I had plenty of that at that school you sent me to. I just want to be free. Oh well. We should get ready to head to the party at Lib Tyrant's mansion. He isn't going to catch himself, you know. And even if he did, we couldn't allow that because then we'd be even more broke than we are now." The two got out of the booth and headed for the party that would completely alter their destiny forever.

Adrienne entered the ballroom and was completely appalled at how luxurious everything was. _I guess this is how I would live if I ever signed with one of those agencies._ Sven decided it would be better if the two of them showed up separately to not arouse suspicion. Sven arrived fifteen minutes prior in his trademark suit. Adrienne had to make more distinguished changes to her ensemble. She was now wearing a form fitting, flame red cocktail dress with her trademark elbow high gloves. Reluctantly, she was also sporting black high heel shoes which she despised and was going to burn after the party. _Geez, I'll never understand why it's unofficially mandatory for women to wear high heels at these functions. If men enjoy them so much, why don't they wear them too? How am I supposed to chase after a bounty in these things. Although, judging from the way Lib Tyrant looks, I doubt he has the capability to run very far or quickly._

Adrienne automatically started scanning the room for possible points of apprehension. She smiled to herself. Before her parents' deaths, she never would've imagined she would have a career as a Sweeper. She never could've imagined she'd even be cut out to survive it. It was as easy as breathing to her, now. _I guess if my parents hadn't died, sweeping would never have been a part of my destiny in the first place. Fate is truly fickle._

Adrienne watched as Lib Tyrant went on stage to begin his acceptance speech which no doubt consisted of more lies than truths. Adrienne checked the bodyguard situation and noted that Lib Tyrant must be afraid of something to have so many of them. She scanned the room looking for Sven. When she finally found him, she rolled her eyes.

"Of course, you would be stuffing your face," Adrienne whispered. "Do you have an actual plan of apprehension or are we just winging it?" Suddenly, Adrienne noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She turned around to the buffet table and saw a little girl staring at her and Sven. "Hey, I think we got a shadow."

Sven looked at the little girl as the girl continued to stare. Both Sven and Adrienne gave her a huge grin which the girl promptly disregarded by looking back towards the stage. "Kids are so rude these days," Adrienne grumbled.

Adrienne couldn't help but feel disgusted when Lib Tyrant announced his marriage plans. _How could such a pretty girl marry such a scumbag? She's gonna get hurt in the years to come. Love is strange and apparently stupid._

Adrienne couldn't help but chuckle when she watched the resident drunkard spill his glass's contents all over Sven.

Sven rolled his eyes. "I'm going to go clean myself up. Don't do anything rash while I'm gone, okay?"

Adrienne mockingly put a hand on her chest. "I'm hurt, Sven. Would I really do such a thing?"

"Absolutely. Now, behave." With that, Sven walked out of the ballroom still soaked with wine.

Sven had been gone for about ten minutes when Adrienne felt worry and confusion coming from the Bond. She noticed Lib Tyrant had returned but she also noticed he had fewer bodyguards with him. She narrowed her eyes and walked out of the ballroom to find her partner.

She found Sven staring at the missing bodyguards who clearly had every intention of killing him. Thankfully, they hadn't seen her yet. She put her Sweeper weapon together (2 wood pieces enforced with metal when clicked together created a staff). She snuck up on the men and hit one of them on the head and tripped the other one. Sven then released a smoke bomb that was hidden in his briefcase effectively knocking out the bodyguards.

"And to think you were worried about me doing something rash. Does saving you count as a rash decision? Anyway, something's wrong. You're worried and confused about something. I felt it all the way from the ballroom. What did you see?"

You know, I'll never get used to this psychic bond. We need to get to the ballroom. Lib Tyrant is about to be assassinated," Sven revealed.

"What!? We can't afford to let that happen. I will not allow the food at this scumbags' party to be the last thing I eat for who knows how long."

The two quickly made their way back to the ballroom and immediately started scanning for points of apprehension they may have missed. Adrienne was beyond confused. _This doesn't make any sense. How could you possibly assassinate someone in a room with this many people? But Sven saw it. Just like my psychic bonds, Sven's visions are absolute. This is hopeless but I can't let that poor girl watch her fiancé die regardless of how scummy he is._

Suddenly, she felt a chill from a door behind her and a figure in black rushed past her. He was so fast, she barely noticed him. Adrienne immediately started chasing after him. She saw Sven attempt to apprehend the man with the net but caught the drunkard instead. When he got to the stairway leading to the stage, Adrienne saw her chance and grabbed the tail of his coat. The man was barely phased by it. He elbowed her in the sternum which caused her to fall back and hit her head on the wall. The last thing she heard before everything went black was, "I've come to deliver some bad luck" and then BANG!

Adrienne woke up to see Sven staring down at her with worry in his eyes. All she could do was nod to his inquiry about her head. She looked over and saw the pretty girl crying over her scummy fiance's body. _I failed. That poor girl is ruined._

"Sven, that man is probably still on the grounds." Adrienne slowly got back up to her feet. "We need to find him. Now."

Sven knew better than to argue to his partner about this. Adrienne was stubborn and lived by a very strict moral code and this man broke a cardinal rule in her code. Sometimes, she was so much like her father, he often wondered if when he died, her father's spirit just chose to reside in his daughter.

They went in search of the mystery man and found him walking away in a heavily wooded area still inside the mansion's grounds.

"Hold it." Sven shouted. "You-You killed him. We were there to capture him alive. There was a reward. He was filth but there was no need to kill him."

"You killed him right in front of his fiancé!" Adrienne exclaimed getting increasingly more upset. "Did that girl deserve to watch her fiancé die? She will have to live with what you did for the rest of her life! You didn't even give him a choice. How could you do such a horrible thing!?" Adrienne finished, breathing hard.

Sven continued, grabbing the man's shoulder, "You think all bad people deserve a bullet through the chest?"

The man didn't flinch, didn't even move. He said one word. "Duck." Both Sven and Adrienne fell to the ground to avoid what looked like a boomerang weapon. The man dodged it easily. As the bodyguard continuously threw the boomerangs, the man continued to dodge them just as easily. Adrienne jumped to the nearest set of bushes. She began preparing herself to watch this man die as well. She was even more surprised when he didn't. The deadly stranger pinned the bodyguard to the tree and walked away.

As Sven and Adrienne made their way back to the car, both equally confused, Adrienne decided to mull over the money situation. "Hey, Sven, you got anything we can pawn." All Sven could muster was a groan.

An hour later, they found a pawn shop and were effectively kicked out after hearing they came face to face with Chronos number XIII aka Black Cat. _The man seems to believe we're about to become Black Cat's next victims. As if! Hell will freeze over before I let someone that heartless or that tackily dressed kill me,_ Adrienne thought to herself.

Soon enough, they found themselves back at the restaurant. As they sat with the food they had no choice to pay for with credit they can't afford, Adrienne muttered one word, "Potholes."

 **I hoped you liked it. Please let me know what you think.**


	3. The Hesitant Cat

**Sorry about the late update everyone but I'm kind of a perfectionist. I don't want to do this story by half measures. I hate reading fan fictions that have really good summaries, but the actual story is very blah (if you know what I mean). But anyway, please enjoy and let me know what you think.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Black Cat or any of it's characters.**

 **The Hesitant Cat**

"Fall down, fall down, falls the rain. My life won't be plain."

Train Heartnett sat in his bed thinking about the night's events. He remembered hearing those words which caused him to look over at the neighboring rooftop. That was when he saw her. The weird girl. He didn't know her name. He didn't much care. She was just the weird girl.

It was probably rude to just sit there and stare but he couldn't help it. People didn't just go on rooftops and start singing. They go on rooftops for valid reasons. Like himself, for instance. He went on the rooftop to drink his milk, possibly feed the stray cats, and think about his past and his life decisions, tragic or otherwise. Completely normal reasons.

It's not like the girl was any good. Really, her voice was adequate and the lyrics weren't all that interesting. Train Heartnett, Chronos Number XIII – Black Cat, just felt enlightened and not for the first time today. Strange that this feeling seemed to keep on happening to him today. First, at the party, there was the old man and the multi-colored hair teenage girl yelling at him about killing his target.

He was surprised at first, because no one had ever caught up with him after he completed a job and then he actually started listening to what they were saying. They were treating him as if he had a choice. As if there were a choice not to kill. Enlightenment #1. He didn't understand it. You were given a target and you kill the target. It was that simple. Now that girl was making him think about the collateral damage which made him feel…unsettled.

Now, there was the weird girl. He was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he didn't even realize she had stolen his milk until it was too late. He only saw the bobbed haircut and the kimono and suddenly he found himself without milk.

Train Heartnett couldn't believe the girl's audacity. He also couldn't believe he didn't altogether mind. It was at this point that Train began to suspect that this girl might just be insane. She just kept rambling on and on until the conversation migrated over to Hades. Train didn't like talking about Hades so he deflected.

"I'm not the only one with a gun."

"Yeah! Check me out! I may not look like it but I'm a Sweeper," the girl exclaimed. "And you?"

Train kept to his silence at this point. It really wasn't any of her business and it was common knowledge that Sweepers were not fond of Chronos. _There's no way this girl could possibly understand._

Suddenly, he heard her speaking again. "We're more similar than you'd like to think." Then she left just as quickly as she arrived. Well, she also left with a quip about crows pecking his head. He spent the rest of the time on the roof racking his brain on how the two of them could possibly be similar but he could find nothing. As he turned over in his bed, finally ready to fall asleep, he found himself truly excited for the coming days for the first time since he was a child. He was enjoying this feeling of enlightenment. _I've now met two strange, possibly insane girls in one night. What kind of town is this?_

* * *

Adrienne was sitting at the restaurant playing with the straw in her glass of water when she heard the waitress approaching the booth. She just sighed. She knew exactly what Sven was going to do.

"Boo!" Sven exclaimed, scaring the waitress.

"Sven, don't do that to the poor girl. You shouldn't mess with people who serve your food." Adrienne looked up from her glass of water while subtly kicking him underneath the table in their booth. "It's not very gentlemanly, either."

Sven gave a dejected look once the waitress promptly informed the duo that they'd maxed their credit limit. Sven got out his watch and Adrienne sighed again.

"How much credit will this watch buy me?"

"Look around you. We're not some sleazy pawn shop," the waitress retorted.

"Yeah, the sleazy pawn shop wouldn't even take that watch," Adrienne muttered. "Our inevitable starvation is all because of our unfortunate run-in with that damn cat. Black cats really do bring bad luck."

The waitress looked at them. "What happened? You two didn't talk about it yesterday but I thought you had a bounty lined up?"

Adrienne groaned. "Ugh, we have the worst luck in the world. We track the bounty down only for some kid, with terrible fashion sense I may add, from some secret government agency to go and kill him."

"Since being a Sweeper pays you nothing, why don't you two quit and get a real job?"

"A Sweeper is a real job. And it'll pay just fine when I find a target," Sven sniped back.

"Tell me," Adrienne started. "Is there a timeframe for when you'll share this 'new target' with me? 'Cause we got bills to pay."

"Good for you. Sticking with the dead end. You two sure know how to live." The waitress looked at Sven. "Don't you have any kids waiting for you at home?"

That simple question caused the coffee which had been so charitably given to Sven by the waitress to be sprayed all over Adrienne.

"Hell no!" Sven exclaimed.

"Bad luck, yet again," Adrienne muttered to herself as she wiped herself off. _If I ever see that damn cat again, even if it kills me, I'm going to hit him really, really hard. I don't know where yet. It might be best to surprise myself._

After the waitress walked away after making a quip about Sven's age, Adrienne decided it was time to get serious.

"Seriously, Sven, we need a new target. Please tell me you have a plan."

Sven looked at Adrienne. "You've been a little testy today. How much sleep did you get last night?"

Adrienne sighed. "Not a lot."

"Was someone worried about our friendly Mr. Black Cat changing his mind and deciding it was better to kill us?"

"No!" Adrienne exclaimed. "I had that dream I had in the car again. You know, the one with the two guys fighting. It kinda freaked me out. Everything just felt so real…like I was actually there. Our friendly Mr. Black Cat was one of the men in the dream by the way. I just can't seem to shake the feeling that something truly horrible is about to happen and it has something to do with Black Cat. And quit trying to deflect!"

Sven hated it when his ward got like this. With her being all sarcastic and tough, it was easy to forget her age. But then her power will start acting up and then he starts remembering exactly how young she is. When her power leaves her with these feelings, Adrienne suddenly becames a teenage girl with the entire world weighing down on her shoulders.

"Well, you do have a show tonight so cheer up. Don't tell me you're going to be singing to a bunch of people with that sulky look on your face. And don't worry, we'll get another target."

* * *

The pair eventually found them self at their friend, Annette's place. A sweeper hangout.

"Yo, Annette. What's up?" Sven greeted dejectedly.

Annette responded with a typical, "Well, well, well. Long time, no see. I figured you were dead and your charming partner finally decided to take her music mainstream." Every time they visited, she always greeted them the same way.

"Trust me, we're right on the edge. Bad luck in spades…again," Adrienne responded.

The two shuffled over to the bar and sat down. There was an awkward silence before Sven and Adrienne's stomachs broke it.

"Are there any big jobs on that board?" Sven implored.

"Please tell me that there's something. I don't want to perform on an empty stomach," Adrienne added.

"Sorry, someone just snatched up the last big catch," Annette answered.

"What did you say about getting us a new target?" Adrienne muttered to Sven.

The two surveyed the board what which pretty much only had mediocre pickings. They eventually settled for Tony Kaye at 50,000 before it was rudely snatched from them. The two were ready to put up a fight when a blonde girl rushed in begging for help. A blonde girl who was showing way more cleavage than was actually necessary. Adrienne just rolled her eyes.

Sven decided to help the girl out with her thug problem which made Adrienne roll her eyes again and mutter, "Sven's just making a fool of himself."

Annette looked at her. "What makes you say that?"

Adrienne glanced at the girl. "The damsel in distress is totally packing heat right now."

"Very good," Annette responded. "You know, I had my doubts when Sven first decided to take you in as a Sweeper but I gotta say, you've really become one of us." Adrienne beamed. Annette was the closest thing she had to a mother. "You gonna tell Sven?" Annette asked.

"Nah, I'll let him figure it out himself." With that, Sven started walking back in looking very smug. A few minutes later, Adrienne found out why when she found herself wolfing down food they didn't even have to pay for.

Then all of the sudden, she found herself bamboozled into helping Ms. Blonde Cleavage rescue a little girl. Supposedly, the girl was the blonde's sister, but Adrienne had her suspicions about that. But they did need the money, so Adrienne decided to go along with it.

* * *

Train had decided that it had been a truly strange night. He met the weird girl on the roof again, gone to help said girl with her Sweeper job, and then been forced to go to a concert. Just like the previous night, it had been a night full of enlightenment.

Enlightenment #1 was that the weird girl had a name. It was Saya.

Enlightenment #2 was that this girl used her gun on her target without killing the target. Train had never heard of such a thing and he instantly became obsessed with the idea. He thought back to what Saya told him.

" _The pistol does what I want it to do. Not the other way around."_

" _If I don't want to shoot, then I won't. It's pretty simple."_

Train found himself wondering if it really was possible to go through his life living according to those words. Carrying Hades but knowing that he holds on the cards on whether or not to kill someone. He was enthralled by the very idea.

Enlightenment #3 was meeting the multi-colored hair teenage girl again at a concert that Saya had dragged him to after she collected her reward.

 _"Now that the dirty business is over with, you're coming with me to see Flying Freedom," Saya demanded._

 _Train looked at her questioningly. "Flying Freedom? What's that?"_

 _Saya rolled her eyes. "Not what. Who. They're a band. An awesome band. And you're going to accompany me."_

 _Train let himself be taken to an underground club. There were all kinds of people there practically from every walk of life but he was even more surprised at what he saw on the stage. It was the multi-colored hair teenage girl. He was surprised to see the girl there in the first place and even more surprised to see that she was an actual singer. Not for the first time tonight, he became entranced and listened to the song._

" _I'm caught in the rain, caught in the rain._

 _And my heart's too drunk to drive._

 _But in this black out state of mine, all I want is you._

 _When my head tells me no, my heart tells me go._

 _And my heart's too drunk to drive but I'm on my way to you."_

 _As Train listened to this girl sing, he realized that this girl's voice sounded like freedom. Her voice had a beautiful, in your face feel but marked with so much passion that he could understand why this girl would go chasing after him after he just killed a man to reprimand him._

 _"She's pretty awesome isn't she," Saya yelled to Train. "Best part about her is she refuses to sign with any agency. She refuses to let anyone dictate her life or her music. These concerts are set up purely on donations from her supporters. I think it shows real character and I just know she has to be an amazing person."_

 _Train looked at Saya. "Have you ever met her?"_

 _"No, but I want to one day. She's really hard to get a hold of as a person because she's always moving around. But you know a secret? I think she moves around because she's actually a Sweeper. She puts on these concerts in the same cities that she follows her targets to. How cool is that? Sweeper by day and pop star by night."_

 _Train had no idea who she really was and decided that he didn't really have the right to know. He quickly ducked out of the concert before the girl recognized him. He wasn't too fond of the idea of getting into a fight with her. No doubt she was still a little mad about what happened to Lib Tyrant. He would really hate to be forced to hurt her. Besides, he had a job he needed to get to._

* * *

Sven, Adrienne, and Elena began the journey up to Torneo's mansion to rescue the girl after the concert. Adrienne still had a bad feeling about this mission. And she also felt that "Elena" wasn't being entirely truthful but she was also itching for a fight. She couldn't believe she actually saw Black Cat at her concert but figured it would be bad form to go after him in the middle of a club. _I really need to hit something._ She smiled to herself. _Despite the bad feelings I'm getting from Elena and this job, at the very least, I'm gonna have some fun knocking out some henchman._

 **As always, please review and let me know what you think. The song Adrienne was singing is called On My Way by Lea Michele. I had a hard time figuring out how I wanted to do this chapter. I'm sure everyone knows that the first part of the Black Cat anime can be kind of slow moving. With the two separate stories going on in the beginning it was a little hard to figure out how to write it. I didn't just want this to be from just Adrienne's point of view though. This is as much her story as it is Train's. When you read romance genres, its better if your reading from both sides (at least that's how I feel).**


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